4324 Vol. 45, No.

15 / 1 August 2020 / Optics Letters Letter

Liquid crystal integrated metalens with dynamic

focusing property
Shenghang Zhou,1, † Zhixiong Shen,1,2, † Xinan Li,1 Shijun Ge,1,2,3 Yanqing Lu,1 AND
Wei Hu1,2, *
1
National Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures, Key Laboratory of Intelligent Optical Sensing and Manipulation, College of Engineering
and Applied Sciences, and Collaborative Innovation Center of Advanced Microstructures, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China
2
Institute for Smart Liquid Crystals, JITRI, Changshu 215500, China
3
e-mail: [email protected]
*Corresponding author: [email protected]

Received 27 May 2020; revised 17 June 2020; accepted 30 June 2020; posted 30 June 2020 (Doc. ID 398601); published 30 July 2020

Metalenses are developing fast towards versatile and inte- super-resolution focusing [8–11]. The dielectric metalens is
grated terahertz (THz) apparatuses, while tunable ones more attractive compared with the metallic counterparts thanks
are highly pursued. Here, we propose a strategy that inte- to the enhanced efficiency and CMOS-compatible manufac-
grates dielectric metasurfaces with liquid crystals (LCs) to turing [12,13]. Once the lens is fabricated, the function remains
realize the dynamic focal spot manipulation. The silicon static, limiting its practical applications. Recently, enormous
pillar meta-units of the metasurface are properly selected efforts have been paid to achieve the active tuning of THz meta-
to generate different phase profiles for two orthogonal lin- surfaces. Semiconductors, graphene, phase-change materials,
ear polarizations, permitting a laterally or axially altered and superconductors have been reported to integrate with them
focal spot. After LCs integrated, polarization-multiplexed [14–17]. Nevertheless, most of these metadevices have uniform
focusing can be achieved via electrically varying the LC meta-unit arrays. As a result, their tunability is limited to spec-
orientations. We demonstrate two metalenses with dis- tra, while the more promising tunable functions are still urgent
tinct functions. For the first one, the uniformly aligned LC tasks.
works as a polarization converter, and further switches the Thanks to the large broadband birefringence from the vis-
focal length by altering the bias. For the second one, an LC ible to microwave and excellent electro-optical responsivity,
polarization grating is utilized for rear spin-selective beam liquid crystals (LCs) are widely applied in various optical fields
deflection. Consequently, a THz port selector is presented. including displays, specific optical beam generations, tunable
This work supplies a promising method towards active THz color filters and spatial light modulators [18–20]. Until recently,
elements, which may be widely applied in THz sensing, two main obstacles that restrict the application of LCs in the
imaging, and communication. © 2020 Optical Society of THz regime have been settled, i.e., high-transparency THz
America electrodes and photopatterning techniques for thick cells (up to
https://doi.org/10.1364/OL.398601 hundreds of microns) [21]. A homogeneously aligned LC cell
can act as a tunable THz phase shifter or waveplate. Through
encoding geometric phases into the LC orientations, more fasci-
At present, the fifth-generation (5G) wireless network is under nating functions, e.g., vortex beam generators and spin-selected
construction all over the world. To further accelerate the com- lenses, have been developed [22,23]. These devices can modu-
munications, fundamental research towards future techniques late the phase front with external field stimulated tunability
is investigated meanwhile [1,2]. The carrier frequency of the and circular polarization selectivity. If one can integrate the
terahertz (THz) band is several orders higher than the radio fre- above-mentioned THz LC components with metasurfaces,
quency (RF) band, thus it is promising to meet the requirement the freedom of function tunability will be thoroughly released.
of the fast-increasing channel capacity [3]. However, “THz Unfortunately, relevant researches are rarely documented in the
gap” is the last explored one in the electromagnetic spectrum, THz band.
and corresponding THz devices are far from maturation. The Here, we integrate LCs with metalenses and demonstrate
lens plays a vital role in communications for beam coupling, dynamic THz lenses with position controllable focal spots. The
focusing, and collimating. The conventional reflective parabola device is composed of a silicon pillar array and an LC layer sep-
mirrors and refractive lenses work on the cumulative phase, arated by graphene electrodes. The metasurface works as both
suffering from their bulky architectures [4]. A metalens is able a dual-focal lens and one substrate of LC layer. The LC layer
to introduce an abrupt phase change via elaborately designing is pre-aligned, and its orientations can be further electrically
the subwavelength metallic or dielectric meta-units, which tuned. Two LC integrated metalenses are presented: the first
supplies a planar way for versatile wavefront manipulations one is an LC waveplate integrated metalens with polarization-
[5–7], including spin-selected, broadband achromatic, and dependent focal length, while the second one is a combination

0146-9592/20/154324-04 Journal © 2020 Optical Society of America

 Letter Vol. 45, No. 15 / 1 August 2020 / Optics Letters 4325

of a lens with laterally mirrored focal spots and a rear LC polari- achieve the desired phase distributions for E x and E y inci-
zation grating. These metalenses provide controllable focal dences. Through rational design of the metasurface, arbitrary
spots that can be dynamically tuned with bias. It may supply a polarization-dependent wavefront manipulation could be
promising strategy for multifunctional and active tuning THz realized. The criterion for a transmittance over 0.7 of each
metalenses. pillar is set to optimize the efficiency. In this way, devices with
The geometry of the silicon pillar meta-unit is schematically polarization-dependent phase modulations can be efficiently
illustrated in Fig. 1(a). When the THz wave propagates along realized.
z-axis, each pillar can be regarded as an effective waveguide. To demonstrate the polarization-dependent focusing, a dual-
The phase of the transmitted wave is given by n eff · h · 2π/λ, focal lens with different focal lengths with respect to E x and
where n eff , h, and λ are the effective refractive index of the wave- E y incidences is designed and fabricated. The phase profile is
guide mode, the pillar height, and the incident wavelength, written as
respectively. Obviously, the phase increases linearly with the q 
frequency. If the structure of the pillar is asymmetric along l 2π
ϕLens1 = − f i, j + x + y − f i, j ,
2 2 2 (1)
and w, the n eff is different for E x and E y incidences, which λ
enables the polarization-dependent phase shifts. Simulations
on the meta-unit waveguide are carried out with a commercial where the subscripts i and j indicate the E x and E y incidences.
software Lumerical FDTD Solutions. The refractive index of Here, f i and f j are designed as 12.0 mm and 16.0 mm, respec-
high-resistance silicon is set as n Si = 3.45 at 1.0 THz. Periodic tively. Figure 2(a) shows the photograph of the metasurface,
boundary conditions are set on both x - and y -axes and a per- which reveals a radially symmetric geometry. The scanning elec-
fectly matched layer is set on z-axis. As an example, Fig. 1(b) tron microscope (SEM) image in Fig. 2(b) exhibits a zoom-in
depicts the dependency of the simulated resonant phase on image of the region marked in Fig. 2(a), in which the varying
the frequency under E x and E y incidences, separately. Their geometries of different well-defined micro pillars are clearly
dependencies of phase on frequency are approximately linear. observed. To verify the design, a numerical simulation of the
Due to the different value between w and l , the resonant phase lens is carried out. Due to the geometric symmetry of the lens,
varies a little for orthogonal polarizations. The side views of only a case along one radius is simulated. Figure 2(c) shows
the normalized magnetic power at 1.0 THz under E x and E y the simulated intensity distributions under E x and E y inci-
incidences are presented, where two distinct resonance modes dences. The simulated f i and f j are 12.2 mm and 15.9 mm,
confined in the pillar are observed. respectively, which are consistent with the design.
We fix h = 200 µm, p = 150 µm, and the target frequency To endow the metalens with a tunability, a homogeneous
of 1.0 THz, and then vary l and w (both from 20 to 120 µm) LC waveplate is integrated and electrically switched, as sche-
to achieve structural databases on the phase [Fig. 1(c)] and matically shown in Figs. 2(d) and 2(e). It is a uniformly aligned
the transmittance [Fig. 1(d)], respectively, for E x incidence. LC layer sandwiched by a fused silica and the metasurface,
The case for E y is diagonally symmetric to that of E x . We both of which are covered by a few-layer graphene transparent
can properly select the pillar geometries to simultaneously electrode and followed by a thin photoalignment layer. The
LC orientation is set as 45◦ with respect to the E x . The THz
phase retardation induced by the waveplate is expressed by

Fig. 1. Principle of the polarization-dependent dielectric metasur- Fig. 2. LC waveplate integrated metalens for dynamic focal length
face. (a) Schematic of the silicon pillar meta-unit. (b) Frequency manipulation. (a) Photograph of the metalens. (b) A zoom-in SEM
dependent resonant phase of the pillar with l = 80 µm and image of silicon pillars labeled by the red square in (a). Scale bars in
w = 60 µm under x - (black) and y - (red) incident polarizations. (a) and (b) are 1 mm and 150 µm, respectively. (c) Simulated THz
The insets show the normalized magnetic power in the x z-plane intensity distributions in the x z-plane at 1.0 THz for E x (left) and E y
under the E x incidence (black dashed box) and y z-plane under E y (right) incidences, separately. (d), (e) Schematic focal length variation
incidence (red dashed box). (c), (d) Dependencies of (c) the phase and of the LC integrated metalens at (d) bias OFF and (e) bias saturated
(d) the transmission of silicon pillars on l and w under E x incidence at state, respectively. (f ) Measured intensity distributions in the x z-plane
1.0 THz. at 1.0 THz at 0 Vrms (left) and 150 Vrms (right), separately.
 4326 Vol. 45, No. 15 / 1 August 2020 / Optics Letters Letter

where t is a displacement on x -axis. Its sign is dependent on the

incident polarization, where + is for E x , and—is for E y inci-
dence, respectively. This lens can focus E x and E y to designed
f = 12.0 mm with opposite t = ±2.0 mm. The photograph
in Fig. 4(a) vividly shows the symmetric morphology of the
fabricated sample. Simulated intensity distributions for E x and
E y incidences are shown in Fig. 4(b). Both focal lengths are
12.0 mm, which is consistent with the design.
Further introducing LC waveplates with spatially vari-
Fig. 3. Fabrication process of the LC integrated metalens. ant director distributions, more fascinating functions can be
achieved. Here, a geometric phase (GP) based LC polarization
grating (PG) is integrated to the above metalens to achieve a
1ϕ = 1n · d · 2π/λ, where 1n denotes the birefringence, dynamic focal spot selection. GP originates from the photonic
and d is the cell gap. When the applied voltage increases from spin-orbit interaction. For the circular polarization (CP) inci-
none to saturated, LCs gradually stand up and finally orient dence, a full phase control (0−2π ) of a CP-converted THz
along z-axis. It contributes to a continuous decrease of 1n and wave can be realized when the orientation angle continuously
subsequent 1ϕ, causing the evolution of output polarizations. changes from 0 to π . The photopatterning technique enables
Here, d is set as 500 µm to achieve the half-wave condition at an arbitrary GP generation. As schematically shown in Fig. 4(c),
1.0 THz. the LC director is periodically varied along the y -axis to form
As schematically shown in Fig. 3, the fabrication of the LC a blazed GP modulation, which can deflect the orthogonal CP
integrated metalens is briefly introduced. The metasurface is components to two opposite deflection angles. The designed
fabricated via a standard photolithography process followed by phase of the PG is written as
a reactive ion etching on a 500-µm-thick high-resistance silicon
wafer. Then the residual photoresist is lifted off. Both the meta-
surface and the fused silica substrates are ultrasonically cleaned
and O-plasma treated. Then the few-layer graphene films are
transferred to them from copper foil (Six Carbon Technology,
Shenzhen, China). After that, both substrates are spin-coated
with an SD1 [24,25] photoalignment agent (Dai-Nippon Ink
and Chemicals, Chiba, Japan). Then the metasurface and silica
substrate are assembled and separated by a 500-µm-thick Mylar
spacer to form a cell. It is exposed under a linearly polarized
UV light to carry out the uniform alignment. Then the LC
NJU-LDn-4 with a birefringence of 0.3 at 1.0 THz is infiltrated
to form the desired LC orientation.
A scanning near-field THz microscope (SNTM) setup [26],
which is based on the photoconductive THz emission and
detection, is utilized to characterize the performance of the
LC integrated metalens. The setup can scan both the intensity
and the phase of the THz wavefront point by point in three
dimensions with an interval of 0.2 mm. The measured intensity
distributions in the x z-plane at 0 Vrms and 150 Vrms are shown
in Fig. 2(f ). At bias OFF state, the incident E x is converted
to E y and focused at z = 15.1 mm. When the saturated bias
of 150 Vrms (1 kHz square-wave) is applied, the E x remains
unchanged after passing the LC layer, contributing to the other
f = 11.3 mm. Slight deviations of the focal length and the focal
spot size are observed. They are attributed to two reasons. The
first one is the fabrication error, especially the etching depth
error, resulting in an imperfect lens phase profile. The second
one is the scattering induced by the thick LC cell and the non-
uniform graphene electrodes, which may enlarge the focal spot. Fig. 4. LC PG integrated metalens for active port selection.
By optimizing the etching cycles and adopting other materials (a) Photograph of the metasurface. Scale bar: 1 mm. (b) Simulated
with better uniformity, the focusing property can be improved. intensity distributions in the x z-plane at 1.0 THz under E x (up)
To demonstrate the versatility of the LC integrated metalens, and E y (down) incidences. (c)–(f ) Schematic dynamic focal spot
we design another metalens with mirrored focal spots with manipulations and measured intensity distributions at the focal plane
respect to y -axis under E x and E y incidences. The phase profile (z = 12.0 mm) at 1.0 THz under E x incidence at (c) bias OFF and
is expressed as (d) bias saturated states, and under E y incidence at (e) bias OFF and
q  (f ) bias saturated states, respectively. The inset in (c) shows the photo-
2π graph of the LC PG under crossed polarizers (indicated by two orange
ϕLens2 = − f 2 + (x ± t)2 + y 2 − f , (2) arrows). Scale bar: 1 mm.
λ
 Letter Vol. 45, No. 15 / 1 August 2020 / Optics Letters 4327

2π Disclosures. The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

ϕPG = − y sin θ, (3)
λ
where y is the position along the grating vector of PG, and θ is †
These authors contributed equally to this work.
the deflection angle (designed as 12.0◦ at 1.0 THz). d of PG is
500 µm to eliminate the zeroth order diffraction. The inset of
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